the goal (and you may have to chew on this a while) of this campaign is not to bend rules. it is to create media attention for our problems. this may be a catalyst to anything- 485 filing, bridging amendments...who knows?

the point is we have to keep trying. sounds like you want to slink away into your "reality". well, since we are all living in fantasy, friend, please let us enjoy it. thanks for your encouragement btw.

The Honorable George W. Bush President of the United States The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President:

I write today to urge you to fix America's broken legal employment-based immigration system. Currently, more than 500,000 skilled individuals who contribute to the American economy through their hard work in high technology, scientific research, medicine and other fields find themselves trapped in a process that is hopelessly backlogged.

If nothing is done, hundreds of thousands of immigrants will wait years or even decades in a process that was never intended to take so long. While comprehensive change will require legislative action, your administration can implement administrative remedies to improve America's competitiveness, eliminate bureaucratic inefficiencies, and improve the quality of life for these legal, highly-skilled immigrants.

Sir, I came to the United States of America <<NUMBER>> years back. I graduated from <<UNIVERSITY>> with a Masters in <<FIELD>> and I have a Bachelor’s in <<FIELD>> from <<UNIVERSITY>>. After completing my Masters, I started working for <<COMPANY>> in <<YEAR>>. I am currently working as a <<POSITION>> with <<COMPANY>>. While in many respects I live the American dream of participating in a thriving economy, the dream is still incomplete because under the work visa provisions my wife of <<NUMBER>> years cannot work inspite of having a <<QUALIFICATION>>. Many people I know are contemplating moving to other economies of the world to take advantage of a fairer immigration policy. In other circles I am also aware of developing nations trying to lure back their citizens to boost their Research and Development potential.

Attracting and retaining the best and brightest minds from around the world is in America's best interest. In February 2006, your Domestic Policy Council issued a report on the American Competitiveness Initiative that recognized the importance of employment-based immigration. The report stated: "The President also recognizes that enabling the world's most talented and hardest-working individuals to put their skills to work for America will increase our entrepreneurship and our international competitiveness, and will net many high-paying jobs for all Americans. The United States benefits from our ability to attract and retain needed immigrant and non-immigrant students and workers, and it is important that America remains competitive in attracting talented foreign nationals."

You can advance your stated objective by making common-sense administrative reforms to fix a system that is clearly broken. Implementing much-needed reforms will also free government resources to focus on pressing national security matters. For example, current rules require the Department of Homeland Security to renew the Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) of hundreds of thousands of legal immigrants each year as those immigrants wait for green cards and permanent residency in the U.S. Rather than renew these EADs annually, the government could renew these documents every three years, freeing countless hours that could be better spent serving the Department's mission.

The greatest impact of the broken green card process is borne by the legal immigrants and their families. There are more than half million highly-skilled legal immigrants already working productively in the United States who find themselves trapped in a system that is taking years longer than intended. During this wait for a green card, these immigrants remain trapped in a legal maze, unable to change jobs - even within the same employer - without starting the arduous immigration process over again, and subject to waits that grow longer and longer.

We implore you to exercise your authority to implement administratively these much-needed reforms. Recapture administratively the unused visas for permanent residency to fulfill the congressional mandate of 140,000 green cards per year. Revise the administrative definition of "same or similar" to allow slight additional job flexibility for legal immigrants awaiting adjudication of adjustment of status (I-485) petitions. Allow filing of Adjustment of Status (Form I-485) when a visa number is not available. Implement the existing interim rule to allow issuance of multi-year Employment Authorization Documents (EAD) and Advance Parole. Allow visa revalidation in the United States. Reinstate premium processing of Immigrant Petitions. I earnestly urge you to implement these administrative remedies without delay, otherwise many immigrant families who came to USA legally to become a part of the “American Dream”, will continue to stay in a limbo. Your help is urgently needed. Your action will also fulfill your stated goal of attracting and retaining highly-skilled legal immigrants from around the world, eliminating bureaucratic inefficiency, and improving the lives of future Americans already living and working legally in the United States.

I sent in the four letters 2 weeks ago and this week I got a mail from TEXAS Service Center. They returned my letter in original and they also wrote a big one page letter.

I don't have it with me right now but in it, it was mentioned that "Please call us at our inquiry center if you have any inquires or you can check your status online as well as the recent processing times.

Don't know if others are also receiving the same returned mail but I wanted to let you guys know this as an FYI.

It does not seem like the letter reached the person to whom it was directed to.

did you emailed to ombudsman also? any replies from him?

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OpenOffice at 9:28 am by

gc_chahiye

06-25 05:10 PM

Hi,

I and my wife both have approved I-140. My PD is Dec 8, 2003 and my wife has Dec 24, 2003. I am applying as beneficiary through my wife's application. Is it possible to use my PD instead? Both are EB3.

I am on a h1b currently. I changed empoyers in the US but the old stamp is still valid till semptember 2008. I has taken a visa date for jan30 in mumbai consulate and was going to fly back on feb9. Now planning to cancel the visa stamping because of the PIMS delays. I hope i am still valid to fly as i have a valid visa stamp and a new petition from current employer too which i can show at port of entry. Do let me know your views on the same and if there are any probable issues....

you will be fine. i have done that earlier.. make sure they stamp I-94 with the expiry date of your current H1 approval... that is important..

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alterego

10-15 09:36 PM

Called one more time using the POJ method to NSC... This was probably the most fruitful call to NSC in the last 7-8 odd times i have called them.

Someone called Terry answered the call... Hats off to this lady...If there is a way i would want to recommend this lady for a promotion and make her the project manager for all the rest of the IOs who answer the call!!!

My case PD is 1/15/05, filed at TSC, transferred to NSC in Mar 08, applied AC 21 in Aug 08 and did biometrics in Feb 09.

Information i received on my case from this call:

1. This lady got my receipt#, checked details and history on my case, let me know that the case is preadjudicated (she defined preadjudication before that)

2. and then, told me that the case is NOT in storage area.

3. She mentioned that preadjudicated cases are held in an area called exams area and my case is currently on its way from exams area back to the officer who had preadjudicated my case earlier in Oct 2008.

4. She then checked my wife's file to see if that is also with my case just to make sure that file is not lost etc and confirmed that both files are together.

5. She also mentioned that nothing else needs to be done right now for my case as it is already on its way back to IO.

Thanks to know that there is atleast one person at NSC who understands what we are going thru' and is willing to atleast provide some details...

Good to hear that you got someone with good customer relation skills who was able to share some information you found useful.

However, what she told you, you probably already knew. Her understanding of your situation is what made you feel good about the call. IN the end however, t is competence that matters. When the USCIS says FIFO and there are over 4 yr old 485 cases in the queue, you quickly realize that incompetence abounds.

I agree. The companies should feel the pain. our cause should get sympathy from the americans. We need publicity for our causes.

ram_ram,

Some publicity is good and we will be working on that. Suggestions are welcome. However I must tell you that being hostile towards companies will be counter productive to our cause. Infact we'll have to work with the companies and organizations formed by multiple companies. They may or may not help us, but being hostile to them won't help us one bit.

Pls come up with any suggestions you may have towards this.

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Techieforever

08-13 11:48 AM

call National Customer Service Center (NCSC) at 1.800.375.5283

and also the read the pdf from the link for the follow up

http://www.californiaimmigrationlawyerblog.com/USCIS%20update.pdf Thanks Krish Will try on Monday.. hope something postive will come out of it

We had our interview on January 17th in chennai Consulate. Interview was smooth - which company.. how long you were working for the company and what do you do there.. these were the questions. We were told at the end that we will receive passports within a week.

So far We ( H1B extension -- 3rd time and my wife - H4( 2nd Time), have not received the passports. I already postponed our date of travel to Feb 5th. Looks like I have to postpone again.

Frustated.. Calling VFS daily to hear the same news.. Passports not been handed over VFS. The VISA is still under process.

Called Consulate Twice ... they say they are doing security checks..

for how long???

Vamsi

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gk_2000

04-01 01:30 AM

Sathesh,

According to the below websites, seems it is the Immigrant's Final application and processing fee(and seems like your immigrant visa has been approved by USCIS*** according to OVERVIEW OF IMMIGRANT CONSULAR PROCESSING (http://www.americanlaw.com/consul_iv.html)

"In April of 1994, DOS opened the NVC, a permanent immigrant visa processing facility in Portsmouth, NH. NVC processes all approved immigrant petitions that it receives from USCIS. NVC will retain the petitions until the cases are ready for adjudication by a consular officer abroad. When an applicant's case is about to become current, the petition is forwarded to the appropriate U.S. embassy or consulate overseas. " ***

this thread need to be on top. guys, take 5 mins of time this weekend and mail your letters. please show support for IV.

anai

01-16 09:05 AM

Till now I do not see any one voted up for this. It is very sad that our own community is not supporting this. If you are not able to search for it in change.gov, give the complete title and see. Citizenship if you have lived legally in this Country for 10 years continuously (http://citizensbriefingbook.change.gov/ideas/viewIdea.apexp?id=087800000004wel)

Guys Vote... Vote ... for us, for our kids....

Great effort Saralayar. I just voted. Vote for this, everyone. This is the least we can do get on the radar. There are so many voices crying for attention --- please vote so that we may be heard.

It is very easy: 1. Go to http://citizensbriefingbook.change.gov/home 2. Register, by clicking on "sign in to get started now" (very quick --- no email verification steps, etc.) 3. Search for "Citizenship if you have lived legally in this Country for 10 years continuously" (without quotes), in the "find an issue you care about" search box 4. Vote by clicking on the up arrow.

Post a quick comment as well. This way we will draw more attention to it.

newbee7

07-09 07:19 PM

USCIS has decided that the flowers sent by skilled, legal immigrants to director Dr. Emilio Gonzalez will be forwarded to injured service members recuperating at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and at Bethesda Naval Hospital.

We welcome the fact that Dr. Gonzalez acknowledged the symbolic gesture of our protest. We are even more happy that these flowers will brighten the day of our injured service brethren. It is their contribution to the American freedom that has made this country such a desirable destination for highly skilled professionals from all over the world.

We also want to convey to the service personnel receiving those flowers that our message accompanying those flowers is, "Thank You and God Bless You".